William Graham (abt. 1740 - 1779)

Born about 1740 in Berks, Pennsylvania

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Ellis) Graham — married about 1765 in Mecklenburg, North Carolina

Husband of Jennet (Cooper) Graham — married about 1773 in Williamsburg Twp, Charleston, South Carolina, United States

Descendants

Died 7 Sep 1779 at about age 39 in Williamsburg District, South Carolina

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Andy Chandler [send private message]

Biography

WILLIAM "HOG" GRAHAM (ca. 1740-1779)

According to family tradition, William Graham is said to have been born about 1740 in Berks County, Pennsylvania, one of four sons and six children of James Graham (baptized 16 March 1714, Drumbo Presbyterian Church, County Down, Northern Ireland, with father’s name recorded as William Graham) by his first wife (name undocumented). His brothers were Henry, James, and Charles Graham, while his sisters were Elizabeth Graham (m. James Hennery) and Mary Graham (m. Lewis Morgan). His father James is said to have emigrated from north of Carlingford Lough, County Down, Ireland to Pennsylvania about 1733; however, immigration records in Philadelphia show no James Grahams until 1746. Also according to family tradition, William likely moved to Mecklenburg County, NC about 1763 after his father’s death in October of that year. He was followed to Mecklenburg several years later by his stepmother, Mary McConnell (Barber) Graham, and his half siblings (John, George, and Joseph Graham, as well as Sarah who married Robert Allison and Ann who married Thomas Spratt Barnett), a step-sister Esther Barber, and their uncle, Charles Moore. By about 1765-67, William “Hog” Graham is said to have married Mary Ellis (1745?-ca. 1770), possibly a daughter of Alexander Ellis of Mecklenburg County, NC, and had a son, William James Graham about 1769. With Mary’s death in childbirth or soon thereafter, William is said to have taken his son and moved to Williamsburg District, SC to be near relatives. Once there, he remarried 1 December 1773 to Jannett (Gennet) Cooper, daughter of James Cooper and Martha Strain Cooper of the Indiantown community of Williamsburg and had two additional children: James Graham (born 24 December 1774, died 22 August 1850), and Sarah Graham (Frierson) (Mills) (born 1778, died 9 July 1829). William served in the American Revolutionary War, enlisting on 4 November 1775 in the First South Carolina Regiment under the command of Col. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. He was promoted to Quartermaster Sergeant on 31 December 1776. Beyond these facts, the remainder of his service in the war is conjectural, including that he was discharged in 1777 because he was "unfit for further military duty." Some accounts suggest that he was wounded in the Siege of Charleston in 1777, after which he returned home. Williamsburg District court records show that he served on the Petit Jury in 1778-1779. He died on 7 September 1779, and was buried on his plantation "a few miles north of Kingstree and southeast of Cades, Williamsburg County, SC, in what has come to be known as Graham Cemetery.

An alternative theory as to William’s origins is that he, known as “Hog” Graham to most because he was particularly adept at training dogs to catch wild boar and/or hogs, was born in Williamsburg District, SC, a son of Neilson Graham (>1723-1786) and his wife, Sarah Spring (1720?-1760?), who along with his father William Graham (1704-1749), also originally of Drumbo Presbyterian Church, County Down, Ireland and likely an older brother or half brother to James Graham (1714-1763) of Chester County, PA, were original 1736 Williamsburg Township settlers. This William Graham, upon his arrival in South Carolina, applied for land in Williamsburg Township by family headright on 26 August 1736, and was granted a tract of 450 acres in the Township, delineated in a plat "administered and laid out" to him by Anthony Williams, Deputy Surveyor for the province, 25 May 1738. A grant of that size would indicate a household of nine individuals, that being 50 acres for William and 50 acres for each of the eight other members of his household.

Further research is needed to document William "Hog" Graham's true origins.

Sources

• American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI), Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army by Francis Bernard Heitman, Washington, DC, p. 685: 256; US and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900; US, Find a Grave Index (Memorial ID 158911181), tombstone inscription, Graham Cemetery, Williamsburg County, SC; Charles P. Graham, comp. and ed. The Grahams of Williamsburg (printed privately, 1975), pp. 3-4; "The Bare-D'Arcy Family History with Related Families" by Joseph Edward Bare and Mary Jean Bare DuPertuis (self-published, 1978), pp. 133-136, 144-155.